NL Summit 2010 Insight: The Neuroscience of Intent
Malia Mason, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Management at Columbia University. Malia and David Rock presented the final session on Day 2 at the 2010 Summit titled ‘The Neuroscience of Intent’.
Organizations could be thought of as 'intent creation machines'. Organizations identify intents and try to focus people on those intents. An individual is being influenced by a large number of intents at any one time: the organization’s purpose, through to its mission, strategies, annual goals, quarterly targets, monthly objectives, weekly quotas, and one's daily to do lists, then finally our moment to moment attention. Each of these levels draw us into specific intentions (like closing a sale or delivering a good presentation) and each competes for our focus.
So what does neuroscience research reveal about intent? There seem to be two related neural circuits, the first circuit appears to be an action network that is specific to responding and behaving to things in the external environment, eg phone rings and I pick it up. The second circuit is a network that mediates actions that are internally guided and spontaneous, in the sense that they are not responses to external factors, they tend to be more volitional.
So what does neuroscience research reveal about intent? There seem to be two related neural circuits, the first circuit appears to be an action network that is specific to responding and behaving to things in the external environment, eg phone rings and I pick it up. The second circuit is a network that mediates actions that are internally guided and spontaneous, in the sense that they are not responses to external factors, they tend to be more volitional.
The brain makes a distinction between these two types of 
actions and generally the internally guided action system trumps the externally triggered action system. The two systems work in parallel all the time and are often conflicting and competing for our attention. We can improve our effectiveness by finding strategies to align these two neural systems so that they have a common pursuit and are working together for us. One strategy that is effective in helping align these systems is the use of implementation intentions as discussed in the ‘Neuroscience of Habits’ session at the Summit.
actions and generally the internally guided action system trumps the externally triggered action system. The two systems work in parallel all the time and are often conflicting and competing for our attention. We can improve our effectiveness by finding strategies to align these two neural systems so that they have a common pursuit and are working together for us. One strategy that is effective in helping align these systems is the use of implementation intentions as discussed in the ‘Neuroscience of Habits’ session at the Summit.Research also reveals that our unfulfilled intentions become a distraction for us. Too many open intentions can hinder our capacity to prioritize and focus and ultimately impact our productivity.
Intentions are a critical foundation for all organizations and keeping them alive and active in the workplace presents an ongoing challenge. Some important considerations when implementing intention strategies are:
Intentions are a critical foundation for all organizations and keeping them alive and active in the workplace presents an ongoing challenge. Some important considerations when implementing intention strategies are:
- Limiting or narrowing intentions can have a powerful impact
- Intentions need to be kept top of mind or ‘sticky’ to be effective
- We tend to act on incomplete intentions first
- It is important to align internal and external intentions, as intentions that are in conflict are problematic.
In Sheena Iyengar’s session she proposed that we should be “choosey about choosing”, when it comes to intentions it is apparent there are also great benefits in being “intentional about our intentions."
Click here to access the webinar recording for a full debrief of the 2010 Summit sessions
For more information on Malia Mason's work visit http://www.maliamason.com/
For more Summit Insights visit http://blog.neuroleadership.org
To order the 2010 Summit recordings and accompanying slides click here
posted by David Rock at
8:54 PM
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